ACLU, NRA, Others Call for Investigation of Feds

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil
Liberties Union, the National
Rifle Association, and other organizations from across the
political spectrum today called on President Clinton to appoint a
national commission to investigate serious allegations of abuse by
federal law enforcement agencies and to recommend steps that must
be taken to reduce constitutional and human rights violations by
federal law enforcement personnel.

Led by the ACLU, the organizations delivered a letter to President
Clinton in which they pointed out that federal law enforcement
authorities now comprise close to 10 percent of the nations total
police forces. Some 53 separate federal agencies -- from the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to the Immigration and
Naturalization Service and from the U. S. Mint Police Force to the
Bureau of Indian Affairs have the authority to carry firearms and
make arrests, the organizations said, a figure that represents an
enormous expansion in recent years in terms of both personnel and
jurisdiction.

What is lacking, the ACLU and other organizations said in their
letter, is systematic oversight and review of federal police
practices. Such lapses, the organizations said, have lead to serious
allegations of abuse, including the improper use of deadly force,
use of unreliable informants without sufficient verification of their
allegations and physical abuse.

The call for a national commission came as the survivors of the
confrontation between the Branch Davidians and the
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, went on
trial in
San
Antonio,
Texas.

Independent experts have already questioned the federal law
enforcement practices that led to the tragic deaths of so many men,
women, and innocent children, said Laura Murphy Lee, the
Director of the ACLU's
Washington Office.

We, of course, recognize that the majority of federal officers
strive, often under dangerous and demanding circumstances, to
carry out their duties in a restrained, lawful, and professional
manner, Murphy added. But at the same time, we know that the
Waco confrontation was not an isolated incident.

In addition to the ACLU and the NRA, the other organizations
issuing the call include the Citizens Committee for the Right to
Keep and Bear Arms; the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation; the
Drug Policy Foundation (later renamed the
Drug Policy Alliance);
the Independence Institute; the
International Association for Civilian Oversight of Law
Enforcement; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers;
The National Legal Aid and defender Association, and the Second
Amendment Foundation.